Unfortunately, it doesn’t necessarily get around the basic deficiencies of many active protection systems, such only being able to defeat a limited number of threats before becoming dead weight or potentially posing a danger to nearby friendly troops or innocent bystanders. So far, active protection systems are most useful against infantry anti-tank weapons, such as rocket propelled grenades and anti-tank guided missiles, rather than tank or artillery shells, too.
An ammo-less directed energy weapon with unlimited magazine depth could be an optimal solution to many of these limitations, but there are potential limitations in these cases, too. Laser or microwave energy beams typically need significant power to remain capable at long ranges and can become unreliable when trying to penetrate through dust, smoke, and other obscurants. Those systems would also need to be powerful enough to defeat the threat in a relatively short engagement window. A viable system of this kind is still lik…

With this in mind, it seems hard to imagine the Navy wouldn’t decide to pursue the SSMM when testing wraps up and there do not appear to be any serious developmental issues to hold up that process. More importantly, without the weapons, the service would be unlikely to get as much value out of the ships at all.
It’s worth noting that the Hellfires are a replacement for a far more capable concept based on the U.S. Army’s XM501 Non-Line Of Sight(NLOS) system. The AGM-114L vertical launch array fits into the empty space on both classes of LCS that was supposed to have held these weapons.
The XM501 launchers were supposed to be able to fire different flavors of missile, a standard strike version with a range of 30 miles and a quasi-drone loitering model that could stay aloft for up to 30 minutes before dropping on a target. The AGM-114L has a range of around five miles, but this could be less for shipboard systems due to being vertically launched and having no altitude advantage. Source

40mm Cased Telescoped Cannon BAE Systems BAE Systems recently showed off its new 40mm Cased Telescoped Cannon at Fort Benning in Georgia. The US Army is looking to add more firepower to its Strykers, Bradleys, and other armored vehicles. The 40mm cannon fires six different kinds of rounds, able to take out a variety of armored vehicles and even older tanks. BAE Systems showed off its new 40mm cannon at Fort Benning in Georgia last week, as the US Army looks to add more fire power to its Strykers, Bradleys, and perhaps other combat vehicles, according to Defense News. "Everything went perfectly," Rory Chamberlain, a business development manager at BAE Systems, told reporters after the cannon was fired, Defense News reported. BAE Systems is one of the largest defense companies in the world. CTA International, a joint venture between BAE Systems and Nexter, began developing the weapon in 1994, and the gun was recently chosen by the UK and France for their new Ajax and EBRC Jaguar ar…

The Moscow-backed authorities of separatist South Ossetia released, on March 23, Georgian citizens David Gerkeuli and Iosif Gundishvili (Imedinews March 23). The two men had been arrested by South Ossetian KGB agents (the special service of this breakaway republic still carries the old Soviet name) and Russian border guards (Kavkazsky Uzel, March 22).
Gerkeuli and Gundishvili were accused of “violating the state border of South Ossetia.” Relatives of the detainees told reporters that they were going to church when the agents seized them in an ambush. The arrested were released after the family paid a fine (Imedinews, March 23).
Georgia does not recognize the “border” with South Ossetia and considers this territory occupied by Russian troops. After the August 2008 war, Russia violated all norms of international law by establishing an illegal “border” that passes through a number of Georgian villages. In this region of the Caucasus, where people have lived and worked for millennia, the…

Russia's 2017 defense spending reached $61.2 billion and provided Moscow the 4th place in the Top-15 list of the biggest military spenders around the world, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) writes in the Military Balance 2018 analytical book. Russian troops at rehearsal for Victory Day military parade (Picture source Army Recognition)
The first place in the list of the biggest defense budgets was held by the United States ($602 billion); however, this result was predictable. The military spending of the People's Republic of China ($150.5 billion) was ranked the 2nd by the Institute, and this estimation did not come as a surprise too. The third place was held by Saudi Arabia ($76.7 billion) while Russia occupied the fourth. India's 2017 defense spending ($52.5 billion) was also included in the list of the biggest ones. The Top-5 countries are followed by the United Kingdom ($50.7 billion), France ($48.6 billion), Japan ($46.0 billion), G…

The 26th edition of Euronaval will be held at the Paris Le Bourget exhibition center from 23 to 26 October 2018. Euronaval is the leading Naval Defence & Maritime Exhibition & Conference. Organized under the joint patronage of the French Ministry of Defence and Secretariat General to the Sea, Euronaval is the unique networking opportunity for industry involved in naval defence, maritime safety and security, shipbuilding, and manufacture for systems and equipments. The specialists, policy makers and buyers from all over the world come to identify the new trends and discover the materials of future. Euronaval is the leading trade show in the naval defence and maritime industry sector.

While speculation was rife this week about whether Turkey's next move in Syria would be toward Tell Rifaat or Manbij, Russia unexpectedly withdrew its troops March 27 from Tell Rifaat.
The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) now controls the area around Tell Rifaat, while according to unconfirmed reports, the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad control the city proper. The area is important for Ankara because the Menagh military air base in the city is a critical logistics point to reach northern Aleppo and Idlib. Thus, control provides the FSA with the strategic and psychological upper hand in the region. Source

The J-20’s rapidly evolving combat capabilities could make it a world leading aerial warfare platform. China’s Chengdu J-20 fifth generation air superiority fighter first entered service in early 2017, providing the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) with an analog to the U.S. F-22 Raptor. The platform was the first fifth generation fighter to enter service anywhere in the world outside the United States, and came equipped with state-of-the-art radar evading capabilities, avionics, and air-to-air missiles. The fighter’s canard configuration served to further enhance stealth capabilities while maintaining high levels of maneuverability. With less than a year having passed since the J-20 was inducted into service, the next generation platform has already received its first set of upgrades aimed at enhancing its combat performance. These upgrades are but the first of many to come, which could well lead the J-20 to become a world leading aerial warfare platform. A notable shortcomin…

YEREVAN, March 30. /TASS/. Russia’s Tecmash Research and Production Group (part of state hi-tech corporation Rostec) intends to develop projectiles for multiple launch rocket systems and air bombs that will disable enemy electronics with an electromagnetic impulse, Tecmash Deputy CEO Alexander Kochkin said at the ArmHiTec-2018 on Friday.
"This will be munitions’ filling. It will be possible to use it in tube artillery, multiple launch rocket systems and in aircraft-launched weapons," he said in response to a question from TASS about the company’s plans to create electromagnetic munitions.
Such work was carried out before, including by the Splav Research and Production Association (part of Tecmash, the developer of multiple launch rocket systems) but the Russian Defense Ministry did not support the project.
"So far, the customer is not placing an order with us for such work. They are content with the work on the ground-based and airborne electronic warfare means and the…

The world’s largest automobile market is China, which also has one of fastest-growing auto industries. Likewise, higher-quality Chinese pickup trucks are spreading globally, which means they’re winding up in the hands of rebel groups.
It’s only inevitable. This comes as China, seeking a growth market, has aggressively expanded its exports, notably in African countries where there are fewer car buyers. In 2017, Cameroon held its first car and pickup exhibition thanks to Chinese entrepreneur Lu Fuqing.
It’s in the developing-world domestic markets that light pickups go from work trucks to the battlefield. In third-world warfare, pickup trucks have advantages over armored vehicles that require specialized maintenance and logistical supply lines that insurgent armies and special operations troops might not have on hand.
Not so with a pickup. Simply hop in the driver’s seat, have your Kalashnikov-wielding friends hop in the back, and you will instantly achieve far greater fuel efficiency …

China’s drive to lead the world in artificial intelligence is spurring American efforts keep its technological edge, especially when it comes to national security.
A technology wave equivalent to the Industrial Revolution, electrification and mechanization, “intelligentization” has the potential to change the way wars are fought, as well as finance, medicine and transportation, said former Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work, now part of the Center for a New American Security’s Artificial Intelligence and Global Security Initiative.
The national security nexus is more about economic competitiveness than weaponry, Work said. “We’re not going to approach this as though we’re in an AI arms race with China. But without question China is the pacing competitor in AI right now,” Work said.
Still, just this month, Chinese media aired footage of military tests of a fleet of remote-controlled tanks, suggesting they could eventually be paired with AI systems. It was suggested China’s Type 59 tank,…

Russia’s Tecmash Research and Production Group has continued the experimental design work jointly with China to develop a reconnaissance drone launched inside a projectile of the Smerch multiple launch rocket system, Tecmash Deputy CEO Alexander Kochkin said at the ArmHiTec-2018 exhibition on Friday.
As the Splav Research and Production Association (part of Tecmash) reported in February 2017, the company had developed a project on its own initiative to create an unmanned aerial vehicle launched inside a projectile of the Smerch MLRS. The drone is designed to reconnoiter targets and can hover at an altitude of 500 m for 20 minutes. Splav said at the time it expected a prospective customer to show interest in the project soon.
While Russia’s Defense Ministry showed no interest in the project so far, China got interested in it, Kochkin said.
"Joint experimental design work with the Chinese side is underway," he said.
The joint work with China has been agreed with Russia’s Defe…

The Minister of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov visited the Turkish Military Academy.
The minister has met with the leadership of the Academy and the Azerbaijani cadets studying here.
Azerbaijan Defense Minister was fully informed of the activities, as well as training and educational process of the Academy.
The minister inquired about the level of training of our cadets and gave them his recommendations.
Expressing satisfaction with the meeting, Colonel General Z. Hasanov emphasized the role of military educational institutions in the process of army construction in our countries.
In the end, the Azerbaijani delegation had lunch with the cadets. News.Az

BAE’s Armed Robotic Combat Vehicle Photo by: ARCV
Can the Army develop a Robotic Combat Vehicle within six years? Some of the experts we spoke to were deeply skeptical, including veteran congressional staffers badly burned by past acquisition disasters. Some, however, said the Army’s goal was achievable — but the early models will require a lot of human oversight, especially when it’s time to pull the trigger.
The Army has radicallyaccelerated its modernization plans overall, which several of our sources said was long overdue, even if they criticized specifics. But fielding a fighting robot is probably the most ambitious of the Army’s new objectives — which is saying something. A soldier mans a robot-carried machinegun during the Army’s PACMAN-I experiment in Hawaii. Three Rounds
Last week, the head of the Army’s Cross Functional Team for ground combat vehicles, Brig. Gen. David Lesperance, told reporters he wanted a prototype Robotic Combat Vehicle next year, in 2019. This week, at the …

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ANKARA, Turkey — A leading Turkish drone manufacturer says it developed a “mobile naval mine” that can blow up warships of all types.
The Wattozz program has been jointly undertaken by Albayrak Savunma, a drone maker, and Karadeniz Technical University in Turkey’s Black Sea region. Wattozz is named after “vatoz,” which translates to stingray.
The Wattozz features the shape of a stingray and is made of titanium and aluminium. It has two cameras fitted into the eye sockets of the “stingray” and can cruise at a maximum speed of 5.5 knots for up to 12 hours. The drone features three integrated engines.
The mobile mine is an underwater drone that can be used for surveillance or assault missions. It can carry explosives and is controlled by encrypted acoustic sound waves.
The stealthy Wattozz cruises underwater and then sticks itself under the hull of an enemy vessel with electromagnetic magnets. The explosion is controlled from a remote station. It can stay inactive on the seabed while in…

The new year will likely bring a new secretary of defense, a renewed emphasis on changing how the Pentagon buys weapons systems and a continued focus on watching technological development by the Chinese government.

C4ISRNET asked industry leaders what trends they expect to emerge in the battlefield landscape in 2019. Here’s what they said:

Accelerated acquisition
“Right now, your toaster can tell your refrigerator that it needs to order more bread, but the world’s most advanced military is still challenged to connect its huge array of systems. That’s just not sustainable. Before the military can start tackling huge technological leaps like artificial intelligence, we have to change the way we develop weapon systems. I see 2019 as the point when the DoD really starts moving away from buying proprietary, stove-piped, closed hardware systems and instead looks to the commercial software world as a model for how we develop and integrate weapon systems. Focusing on commercial-style softwar…

Carrier-based unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), hypersonic weapons, and the business of cyber security dominated reader interest highlighting some of the most important technological issues facing the U.S. defense industry. By Mil & Aero staff
Of 2018's top 10 most-read articles online at Military & Aerospace electronics, two concerned shipboard UAVs, and two were about the emergence and enabling technologies for a new generation of hypersonicweapons. Rounding-out 2018's most popular Military & Aerospace Electronics articles were on topics concerning emerging market powerhouses in cyber security; vetronics and armored combat vehicles; prospects for a future supercavitating torpedo; advanced military night vision; combat aircraft avionics; and the tense military situation in the South China Sea.
Five U.S. defense contractors are among the world's top 25 cyber security and trusted computing companies, say analysts at market researcher Cybersecurity Ventures in Nort…

It is perhaps axiomatic, and thus seemingly unnecessary, to say that computers have transformed modern war. But they have in ways both large and small; they have, for example, become deeply integrated with the full range of Army operations—part of a broader convergence of domains and thus part of a pattern that has led to the development of the multi-domain battle concept. The problem, however, is that military technology training has failed to keep pace with rapidly growing capabilities.

The result is that despite expanding digital footprints, most soldiers might as well be using typewriters, analog telephones, and chalkboards when it comes to the capabilities they bring to bear in pursuit of military objectives. Despite technology’s massive potential, waiting to be harnessed by members of the most advanced fighting force the world has ever seen, soldiers without basic computer programming skills cannot automate simple tasks, integrate data sources, or effectively leverage the unendi…

U.S. Army researchers are surveying the defense industry to find companies able to develop autonomous cyber defensesfor tactical networks and communications that capitalize on artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., issued a request for information (W56KGU-19-R-AUTOCYBER) on Monday for the Autonomous Cyber project. Researchers are looking for cyber technology to secure automated network decisions and defend against adaptive autonomous cyber attackers at machine speed. The Army Contracting Command is conducting this industry survey on behalf of the Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate (S&TCD). Overall, S&TCD envisions a combination of several artificial intelligence and machine learning products that deliver autonomous cyber defense capabilities. Specifically, researchers are looking for cyber and trusted computing…